


A Knight's Heart

by CrocInCrocs, LilisBooks, Nettlethistle



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthurian Legend esque, Chivalry, Knights and Kings, M/M, Minor Character Death, Mistaken Identity, Mutual Pinning, Superbat Big Bang 2019, there is a happy ending i promise, violence and gore here and there, with a tad of bittersweet moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 15:21:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19907887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrocInCrocs/pseuds/CrocInCrocs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilisBooks/pseuds/LilisBooks, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nettlethistle/pseuds/Nettlethistle
Summary: King Bruce is fighting a war he has no desire to be in whatsoever, especially since the war cost him more than he could’ve ever thought, just before it all began.Clark is just a knight fighting for what he has lead to believe is right, unsure of the reasons behind the war King Luthor has against all kingdoms.Is when these two men met that their beliefs are shaken to their core and the connection they share is more than it first leads the eye. This is a tale of knights and Kings, of war within kingdoms and a search for truth and justice with a tad of love along the way.





	1. All You Need Is Love (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first Big Bang ever, as well as my first long fic completed in my life, so I'm a little nervous to post but I really hope you like the story I came up with for this event. 
> 
> First of all, I'd like to thank the mods for making this happen and for arranging this whole event and gather tons of talented artists and writers to come together in their love for Superbat.
> 
> And last but not least, I'd like to thank my amazing artists, Crocincrocs and NettleThistle, who brought to life my story and whose support meant the world to me. Thank you, seriously, from the bottom of my heart.  
> Please check their art, is beautiful and breathtaking.
> 
> Without further ado, let's begin.

_ “Our love transcends space and time. No culture or creed could ever keep us apart. Even death is just the beginning.” _

_―_ Aurora Whittet, _Bloodmark._

Once Upon a Time, in a faraway land, there was a knight who fought for those who couldn’t fight for themselves, who seek justice in an unfair world and whose heart was bigger than he let the world know.

This knight was born to serve the people of the kingdom he loved the most, but only when his enemies couldn’t truly see him and recognise the man beneath the mask, for if the truth were to be known, the kingdom would be in great danger.

You see, the knight, known to the outside world and to those who feared him as the “Dark Knight”, was, in fact, the King of Gotham, King Bruce, trained from his early years by the best of the very best to be what his kingdom needed him to be. After witnessing tragedy first handedly and being a victim of the corruption of the system before him, Bruce had decided that no one should face that same fate, even if it was the last thing he did. 

And thus such vow marked the birth of the Dark Knight.

It was a secret weapon used only in great danger, to fight enemies like the infamous King Joker of Arkham or to protect his kingdom of the dangers of the war, a war none in the kingdom wanted and the King only fought to protect his people, trying to keep them away at the best of his capabilities.

Everyone in the kingdom knew the truth about the King, and they both respected and admired their ruler for such devotion to them. Everyone kept his secret, as it was a small kingdom compared to others like Metropolis or Themyscira, and protected the King where and when he needed to be protected.

But apart from his loyal kingdom, the King had more allies than he cared to admit. Especially in the war for freedom and justice.

Unfortunately, among those allies weren’t the Metropolis’ kind.

The Metropolis Kingdom was ruled by an overly powerful Lex Luthor, who wished to gain more and more territory as his years on the throne went by. At first, he fought and lost, having no real warriors on his side; until one day when by casual chance he met a farmer’s son by the name of Clark Joseph Kent, who saved his life after Luthor was attacked and wounded outside the Arkham Kingdom, near a small village called Smallville, part of Metropolis’ Kingdom. 

There, Kent nursed him back to health and in those quiet months of peace and solitude, Luthor found a soul unlike any other he had ever met, instantly falling infatuated with such a bright thing. However, Clark had a secret and it was that he came from a land where people were indestructible, faster, stronger than any being on Earth. It was a secret he shared with almost none, but after being let on the secret Luthor began to think that his infatuation wasn’t entirely one-sided.

Discovering all of that, Luthor decided to invite Clark to join the royal guard, but Kent, having been raised in a small town in a simple way of seeing life, was not so sure to join him, even if he saw the man as a friend, having not recognised the King of Metropolis whatsoever, as his heart bled from the horrors of the world outside their kingdom Luthor told him about.

But Luthor, conniving and manipulative as ever, convinced Clark that it was his duty as a powerful being to protect those who couldn’t, and who was more defenceless than the people of Metropolis, who were constantly at war with Gotham, Themyscira, StarKingdom and more? Surely, Clark would protect the beaten, the broken and the damned... right?

Saying goodbye to the old house he grew up in, the only thing left from his parents, Clark walked away from the life he knew and joined Luthor’s guard, as the Captain of the guard, dubbed by everyone as “The Man of Steel” due to his invulnerability and strength.

As much as the war is present in this never-ending tale, this is not a tale of wars, heroes and knights, oh no, far from it, actually. Our story is a story about love, a love between two knights at heart with a sense of truth and justice above anything else, serving two opposite kingdoms fighting a war nobody could truly remember why it had even started. 

Is a story about a love so powerful, that can transcend the limits of space, time and the universe. A love unlike anything else we’ve ever seen.

And as such, our story begins when the Dark Knight met the Man of Steel.

  
  



	2. One Night in the Name of Love

It was a night like any other, right until it wasn’t, with our brave Knight patrolling the outskirts of his Kingdom alongside his trusted companion, Nightwing, a.k.a the first of Bruce’s children, Richard Grayson. They were both on opposite sides of the wall dividing the forest from the Kingdom, guarding its citizens' sleep.

“Anything on your side of the border, Nightwing?”

“Everything as clear as crystal, Knight,” said the younger man through their communication devices, designated by the Chief Engineer of the Kingdom, Lucius Fox, a trusted and respected man by everyone, and a powerful counsellor of the King.

“Keep your eyes and ears open on your way home, we don’t want any surprises”.

“Understood, Knight”.

Bruce smiled at the seriousness of his son’s voice. He was becoming a man on his own, and while he was as proud as a good father could be, he dearly missed the young boy Richard used to be back when Bruce had met him all those years ago. Despite the tragedy that fell upon the young boy, his soul kept shining like a blinding sun. 

He hoped nothing ever shot down his beloved son’s light.

“See you at dawn, Robin”.

“It’s Nightwing,  **Bats,** ” even though he sounded annoyed, Bruce could hear the smile on his son’s voice, which made him smile a little in return, even at the mention of his old nickname, a nickname he had to try to forget with everything he had.

Memories were painful as they were so he deflected as soon as the pain made its presence known.

“Knight out”.

“Love you too, dad”.

Oh, how he loved the boy he had come to think as his own blood.

“You’re not like I expected you to be,” said a voice from behind him, making his shields go up again and put him in a defensive mode, ready for battle. 

But it was when he turned and faced the intruder that his alarm bells started sounding in his head, making every nerve and cell in his body scream at him in a desire to fight and run, knowing it was nearly impossible to defeat the man that had disturbed the little peace he had found.

The Man of Steel stood in all his glory right in front of him, making Bruce’s bold boil. The moon lit brightly behind him, casting shadows on his face, making Bruce's task of reading the other’s expressions a tad difficult.

“Steel. What are you doing here?” 

Everyone knew Steel was Luthor’s attack dog, and if one was here, the other one wasn’t so far away. They were inseparable those two. 

Personally, he had never seen the Man of Steel face to face, thanks to Hera and all the Gods above, despite the many battles he had fought against the army the man so clearly represented, wearing Luthor’s emblem and colours like a proud peacock.

It disgusted Bruce.

“I’ve heard about you, mostly legends”. 

Truth be told, everything he ever heard about the man had been from stories of others as well, tales told from tavern to tavern in between kingdoms, shared in the light of a bonfire when the battle was at ease, between soldiers who were grateful for the absence of such a mighty warrior.

“Good.”

“I didn’t think you were real”. 

Bruce didn’t think the man in front of him was real either.

“I’m real when it’s useful.”

“Luthor told me you were a ruthless killer,” the other man said, for the first time inflicting some kind of emotion in his voice.

Was it… doubt? 

No, everyone knew the Man of Steel was a killing machine, devoted to Luthor and no one else.

“I do not care what King Luthor says of me,” Bruce replied in his most contemptuous voice.

“You have a son,” and with a phrase, his wards were back on. 

This man could kidnap him, torture him beyond repair and even murder him without a trace of compassion, but his kids? They were out of the question, of the discussion, of the table, of the cards. They weren’t to be touched.

But he could not let the Man of Steel feel his fear.

“Many serial, ruthless killers have sons”.

“Are you saying you’re a serial killer?” it shouldn’t be endearing to Bruce that a man known to have killed a thousand of warriors from Atlantis had titled his head in a confused manner as if he didn’t understand what was going on. 

A man that had just threatened his son.

“I’m saying that’s not enough reason to discard a person as one.”

“You’re not an ordinary knight.”

“Good.”

“How does your King feel about your… night activities?”

“I care little about what my King has to say about me”.

“But…”

“But what?” Bruce asked rather harshly, breaking the man out of his stupor. He had to make it clear to the man in front of him that he didn’t wish to talk about his relationship with his King.

The least he knew, the better protected his people were

“I… I actually haven’t heard much about him.”

Just how Bruce wanted. 

To the outside world, King Bruce was an elusive yet powerful King, isolated to every kingdom that wanted contact with him. He never went out and was mostly a myth among Kings. Oh, he was powerful and feared but only a handful of them actually knew how the Wayne monarch looked like, act and talked. Everything else was "hear and say" as his allies liked to put it.

“Good.”

“Do you not know another word?”

“Do you have a reason to be here?”

“I…” the Man of Steel seemed to hesitate before continuing, “I wanted to understand why are you so set on us being at war with each other.”

“Pardon me?”

“Is it power? Wealth? Territory?” the Man pleaded with Bruce as his feet touched the ground, making him look less ethereal and more real, “I can give you those things, but please, spare those who are not at fault for this war.”

“Why are you saying those things to me?” Bruce asked, suspicious of the intruder who stood in front of him in a submissive manner, “I am no King.”

“But you work for one!” was the Man of Steel… pleading?

“And so do you”.

“King Luthor…” the warrior seemed to doubt himself before barreling through, “I don’t think he’s the man he claims to be” he gave a sigh before continuing. “I think he’s hiding something.”

“Why me?” Bruce asked with as much scepticism as he could master, despite his heart and gut telling him the man in front of him was heartbroken and lost.

Instead of answering, the man in the blue and red suit just looked at him with the most dejected, despair look anyone had ever seen him, breaking Bruce’s resolution of kicking the man in question out of his Kingdom.

“Does King Luthor know that you’re here?” Bruce asked as neutral as possible, receiving only a shake of the head from the other man.

“He thinks I’m following a lead on how to defeat the Amazonian Kingdom”. 

“Follow me” was all he said before jumping from the wall he was in towards a narrow path in the middle of the woods.

He was about to trust this man like he hadn’t trust anyone in a very long time.

...

People often accused Clark of being naive and gullible, believing people to be good despite evidence of the contrary, arguing that people were inherently good and willing to do the right thing when needed, but for quite some time, he had started to believe that those words no longer applied to the man he knew as Lex Luthor.

It all started one afternoon when, after discussing the next battle against Themyscira, Lex had slipped the fact that his next target was Gotham.

“But Gotham has never done anything to us,” Clark said, puzzled as to why Luthor wanted to fight the solitaire and peaceful Kingdom. “They never even meddle in the war.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, dear Kal,” Luthor said in a sweet tone, “King Bruce is as ambitious as they come and nothing will stop him until he sees us defeated. He is the reason we are at war.” 

Kal-El was his true name, from the Krypton land where he was from, a land destroyed before he was born and whose name he only knew by the records left to him by his birth parents, the ones that left him with the Kents, who raised him as their own. 

Only two people in the world knew his true nature, and one of them was dead.

“But no one has ever seen King Bruce,” Clark tried to reason with Lex, falling on deaf ears, “no one even knows if he’s still alive.”

“But they know of his Knight,” Luthor said, annoyed at Clark’s doubts, “the infamous Dark Knight, a ruthless killer who slaughters men, women and children just because he wants and serves his King's desire of power.”

“Have you ever encountered him?” Clark asked, apprehensive.

“Only once, the day you and I met,” Luthor said with a neutral voice, “he was merciless, hurting me even when I begged him to stop, offering him reliques beyond measure. He wanted nothing but the satisfaction of seeing me dead.”

Clark remembered how Luthor was, on the brink of death, left to die in the middle of the field, fighting for his life with everything he had, fragile, human. His compassion got the best of him and before he knew, he was saving this man from the abandoned road and revealing a secret he had vowed to never share again, due to the consequences it last brought. 

But Lex was still alive, and he was the only friend he had left.

Feeling anger towards the man that had almost killed his friend, Clark agreed to take on Gotham once they had defeated the Amazonians, but a nagging feeling was still with him even when he went to bed on his chambers away from everyone else.

Even if he was admired as a Knight due to his abilities, the man behind the title was a different story. Everyone either thought he bedded Luthor for power or mocked him for his naivety at such hard times. They were fighting a war and had no room for such a thing as compassion.

Compassion got you dead in the battlefield.

While he contemplated what little he knew about the Dark Knight, he remembered having heard of the infamous man from when the battle was done and the soldiers were treating its wounds. He had heard about his abilities in combat and his serious demeanour, having no heart but a piece on ice in its place, killing with no remorse whatsoever as to who stood in front of him.

But he had also heard of tales from others, thanks to the abilities he possessed, listening to the poor and the broken, those who were forgotten by almost everyone else. They praised the Knight for his compassion, his bleeding heart who never stopped even in the middle of the war, praising his nature to do good despite all personal costs. No one had ever truly seen him, but those who had, say he was anything but human.

And that was a feeling Clark could relate a little too well.

Deciding to follow his gut, Clark left a note at Luthor’s quarters to let him know that he was following a lead to try and find a weakness in the Amazonian nature, and will most likely return in two days notice. It wasn’t the first time Clark had said something along those lines, but it was certainly the first time he had lied to his friend.

He didn’t feel as bad as he had expected to feel.

When he had encountered the Knight, he had been surprised to see a fond smile on the man’s face, suspecting it was a rare sight to behold and, as such, he should treasure it at all costs, knowing in his gut he was one of the few who had witnessed such a sight. But it was when he heard the man interacting with his son, and if that wasn’t a revelation, that he knew Luthor had lied to him. 

No man who smiles like that while talking to his son would feel no remorse at taking a life. Not even the most devoted Knight.

But what had taken him in delighted surprise was the beauty underneath the armour and mask, a man well built whose features were elicited by the black armour he chose to wear. He had never thought of anything as beautiful but the Dark Knight was a breathtaking sight perched on the wall of the Kingdom bathed in moonlight.

Despite the rudeness of the other man, Clark found himself amused at his responses, knowing that behind the mask lay a man whose heart was guided by the will to protect others, as he noticed how the man tensed when he mentioned Nightwing, his son. Maybe the man also believed what people said of him, “The Man of Steel”, that ridiculous nickname Luthor had given him when he had joined his knights all those years ago. 

It was time for Clark to prove that the Knight, too, was as wrong about him as Clark had been about him. 

However, he couldn’t stop the pain in his chest at hearing how defensive the Knight was of his King, wondering if _those_ rumours were indeed true. 

“Where are you taking me?” he asked, breaking the silence of the night. They were walking in a deserted area of the forest, their only companion being the noises of the woods. It was a peaceful and quiet night, and not for the first time, Clark wished Luthor had never taken him away from the farm he loved so dearly. 

“I’m not going to kill you,” the man said, annoyed, instead of answering the question.

“I know that,” Clark said, with a small smile he knew the man wouldn’t see. Knight was funny, “I just want to know where we’re going.”

“Not relevant for you to know.”

“But you’re taking me there.”

“That doesn’t mean you need to know what or where it is.”

Clark said nothing, but the smile grew on his face, making him made a vow that, somewhere in the near future, the man in front of him would trust him like a friend.

As they were walking silently in the night, Clark suddenly heard a cry for help and, unable to ignore it, began running towards the noise, ignoring the yells of the other man. 

Maybe he had lost his chance with him, but someone needed help.

And Clark Kent, knight or not, could never ignore such a thing.


	3. We Could Be Heroes

When Bruce saw Steel running away, he was furious, to say the least. He was risking his neck, his reputation, his army, by even standing next to the man, and that’s how the man in question paid him in return? By running away and never looking back?

Guess he wasn’t so wrong after all, despite what his gut told him at the sight of Steel fading into the forest, telling him to trust the man and the reason behind his behaviour. He had only failed to listen to his instincts once, and it had cost him everything.

That still didn’t explain as to why Bruce was running after the man, trying to catch up even after his lungs begged for mercy and a little rest. Instead, he just pushed himself forward trying to see as to what Steel was running towards to.

Before Bruce could faint from exhaustion, he saw Steel kneeling in front of a young girl, no older than eight, trapped below a long tree trunk, with half her body underneath it and a face that fully showed all of her pain and suffering.

“Knight!” Steel exclaimed as he saw Bruce approaching them, “I need your help!”

“What happened?” he asked as he too kneeled beside her, gathering her small frame and assessing the damage done to her by the tree. At close sight, he recognised her at once, Helena, the daughter of the owner of the only inn in Gotham, a woman of honour and beauty. He wondered how the little one had ended up in the woods so late in the night, as he knew her mother and how much she treasured her daughter.

“I was walking down to the river when the three fell right above me,” she said between sobs, “Nana always warned me about this old tree but I never listened, she said it would only take a strong wind to end it.”

“Don’t worry, my friend and I will help you,” Steel said to her in a calming matter. Bruce, knowing he could not not help a person in need, looked at him in a strange manner. 

Steel wasn’t trying to escape, he was just trying to help someone in need. But how did he knew?

The tears were beginning to dry in her cheeks as she looked at both men in astonishment. It was clear she suspected who he was, much to his pleasure as she wouldn’t run scared once she was free, thus endangering herself more, but at the same time, with the current times, could she truly believe in the good intentions of an unknown man, which he could tell from her face that she had failed to recognise the Man of Steel, even if he was accompanied by her King? Bruce knew the stories told about the man in every corner of every Kingdom, so he was expecting a cry for help that never came.

Was Steel manipulating her like all those stories about him claimed?

However, before he knew, both him and Steel were lifting the trunk from the girl’s upper body, with Steel taking most of the weight himself, much to Bruce’s surprise. Why did Steel ask for his help at all if it seemed like by himself he could lift the trunk with no problem whatsoever?

“Thank you, thank you, so so much,” the girl said as Bruce helped her on her feet while Steel threw the trunk beside them, “I have no way of thanking you.”

“It was no problem, little ma’am,” Steel said with a little nod, which earned a giggle from the girl and a warm feeling began spreading inside Bruce’s chest.

He was inclined towards men who never belittled children and were good to them.

“Are you sure you will be able to walk home by yourself?” Bruce asked instead, knowing these woods were known to be not entirely safe for the people, and wanting to distract himself from a feeling he swore never to feel again.

“N-- no” she stuttered, looking ashamed.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said, softening his voice as it was clear that the girl knew the dangers as well as him.

He kept wondering how she ended up so far in the woods...

“If you allow us, my friend and I will protect you until you’ve reached home,” Steel intervened, startling the young girl, who suddenly looked apprehensive of being in the woods with an unknown man, even if he was accompanied by her King.

“Ar--- are you su-- sure, s-- sirs?” she asked, “I don’t wanna be of any trouble.”

Looking towards the other man, Bruce silently asked him to turn around and, to his delighted surprise, Steel went away, claiming a desire to study the fallen tree and figure out the reason behind its fall. Touched in more ways than one, he kneeled facing Helena and looked at her in the eyes.

“You are no trouble at all, Helena Kyle,” Bruce answered with a soft voice, removing his mask only for her to see, revealing as such his face to her, which she immediately recognised as her King, judging by the way her face lighted up. 

“Thank you,” she whispered as she grabbed his hand once he had put on the mask and they started walking towards their Kingdom.

Bruce only smiled softly at her from behind his mask, with Steel following close behind. He didn’t need to turn around to see the bewilderment in the other man’s face at the sight. 

...

Clark knew how much Knight valued his privacy, he had witnessed it not even a day ago, and yet everything in him longed to know more about the intriguing knight, from his cold demeanour to his soft treatment towards the little child. There was familiarity in their treatment, almost like they knew each other, but he knew that every question would be ignored or could jeopardize the fragile relationship he had come to form with the man.

It was when Knight looked at him and asked him to turn away that he knew if he broke this little offering of trust he could never recover and would regret it for the rest of his days. It was of no challenge to walk away, as he truly desired to see if the tree had been tampered with. He felt no remorse nor delight when faced with a cut in the base of the trunk, proving someone had torn it down. 

Their knowledge of the little girl’s presence was something Clar feared to be true. It only meant problems were near.

When Knight called for his name as they were walking away, he ignored the jump in his heart a hearing that nickname without a trace of malice or adoration, with just a speck of light in it. 

But it was when he caught sight of the smile in Knight’s lips that everything had faded away and only that sight kept him going.

Oh, how envious he was of a little girl.

“Why is he not harming us?” the little girl asked as they were approaching the small Kingdom of Gotham once again, confirming Clark’s suspicion of their knowledge of each other.

“Who?” Clark asked, unable to comprehend who they were talking about. Knight? Did the little girl not know who the man beside her was? She must know, being from Gotham and having her little hand wrapped in one of his. 

Was he a legend to his Kingdom as well?

“The man they call The Man of Steel, sir” she answered with a puzzled look in a whisper, looking around her as if just uttering his name would summon him. The panic was clear on her face. “He wants to kill everyone that wanders this woods.”

Clark stopped in his tracks, unable to move. Is that how people outside Metropolis saw him?

Paralyzed in disbelief, he almost missed Knight’s reassuring words to her.

“You don’t have to worry about him,” he said, knocking on the gates of the wall that separated Gotham from the woods. “You’re safe.”

“Helena!” was what they first heard as soon as the doors opened, revealing a young woman running towards them. Her hair was cut short, revealing a beautiful face with a sharp jaw and full lips. She looked almost… feline.

“Mommy!” the little girl exclaimed as she let go of Knight’s hand and ran towards her mother, squealing in delight once the woman gathered her in a tight hug.

Clark remembered his mother’s embraces and, not for the first time, missed her dearly.

Once Helena was safe in her mother’s arms, she turned to look at the two men in front of her, her face lifting in joy and love the moment she saw Knight. A strange feeling settled in Clark’s chest as he witnessed the exchange.

“Oh, thank you B…” she began before Knight coughed and slightly pointed at him with an inclination of his head. Did the woman know the man behind the mask? “Thank you, Knight.”

“Is of no problem, Selina?” the man said in return, his voice revealing nothing, “just wondering why Helena was in the woods so early in the morning.”

So they did know each other. 

_ And I stand no chance,  _ he thought bitterly before throwing away such thoughts. 

It was not the time nor the moment, and he feared they would never find one.

“Nana is sick, and she needed water,” the little kid intervened, startling Clark out of his thoughts. “I didn’t wanna wake Mommy, so I slipped out to go to the well, but there was no water there but I knew there was a well outside the city and then a strong wind came and tear down that three and Mommy... They helped me!!”

The woman looked startled as her daughter told her tale, looking between the two men not knowing what to say. Clark felt for her. If he had a daughter, he would have a heart attack thinking his daughter had walked in the woods at night, but with a warm heart knowing it was for a good cause. 

Gotham was known to be a safe Kingdom, guarded by Knight and his army, but if his suspicions were correct, it wouldn’t be for any longer.

“There’s no water in the well?” Knight asked, looking directly at Helena’s eyes.

“No, sir,” she answered proudly.

Knight only frowned, before addressing the kid once more.

“You were very brave,” he said in a tender voice, “but you should never, ever, wonder in the woods by yourself. Always go with your Mommy or your Daddy, okay?” 

“Okey, Mister,” she said, nodding like she had been tasked with the most important mission in the whole Kingdom.

The woman and the kid said their goodbyes, with Selina and Knight exchanging a glance full of meaning before Knight turned around and returned to the woods. Clark could only follow, unsure of what he had just witnessed, trying to ignore the unknown feeling on his heart.


	4. Just for One Day

As they were walking towards their destination once more, having left young Helena behind, Bruce could feel Steel’s questions on his gaze. He had questions of his own, of course, but he had the decency to keep them to himself until the right moment came and he could obtain an answer to them.

“What?”

“You seem pensive.”

Bruce said nothing.

“I guess you’re wondering how I heard Helena’s cry for help even though we were so far away.”

Bruce turned to look at Steel, puzzled. He was wondering that. Could that man read minds and had kept it a secret from everyone? Is that how he knew of Richard?

“No, I don’t read minds,” he said in a cheerful voice, almost like he found it funny. “People always ask me about the things I can do.”

Not letting go of his fear of the man but keeping a neutral face, Bruce looked away as he resumed their walking. 

“The things you can do?” he asked instead of addressing his concerns, which earned an amused smile from the other man.

“Being able to hear things from long distances, run as fast as a leopard, see things clearly even when I’m not near, my strength,” he said dismissive, like it was no feature at all, “I’ve always been able to do that.”

Bruce knew only of a man who could do that, but it was impossible for Steel to be him. Maybe they were the same kind, born in the same place. It wouldn’t be so unthinkable, as Krypton had been a large place before it’s destruction.

“You don’t believe me,” Steel said after Bruce failed to say a thing.

“I do, you’re just…” he paused, looking for a word.

“I’m just… what?”

“Not what I was expecting,” he said, repeating the words the man had thrown at him when they first met just hours ago. 

It felt like more to Bruce.

“Is that how people really see me?” Steel asked instead, puzzling Bruce as that was not the question he was expecting, at all.

“What do you mean?”

“That little kid, she was terrified at the thought of meeting ‘The Man of Steel’,” the man in question said in a distraught voice, sounding disgusted at uttering his own nickname. 

“She didn’t recognise you.”

“And yet, she feared me.”

“You do have a reputation.”

“Of a monster?!?” he exclaimed, tearing himself apart in distress. 

He had never dreamt of seeing the Man of Steel so distraught and powerless. Almost broken.

Bruce's heart broke for him, reinforcing what he thought of the man but still unwilling to trust his instincts. He very well knew of the consequences that such thing like trust would unfold between them, and while he was reluctant to do so, he knew Steel needed to know the truth if things were to move forward.

“Among others,” he said, stopping in front of the man.

“Why? I only do what my King asks me to do,” Steel said, hiding his face in his hands.

“And have you ever stopped to question those orders or commands?” Bruce asked, not trying to hide the anger in his voice. If there’s one thing he hates is a person who does not think for themselves and follows orders like a blind sheep.

“He only ever asks me to fight battles, even finish them! But I know nothing of wandering the woods and murdering children!” 

“You’re saying you’re not responsible for the slaughter of the Starville village?” Bruce prodded of the man as he fell to his knees on the ground with a heartbroken look on his face.

“I only assist King Luthor in the battlefield and by commanding his troops!” Steel exclaimed from his position, begging Bruce to believe him, “You must know I would never murder an innocent soul.”

And after witnessing his behaviour towards the young Helena, Bruce knew he did.

“Is your King who has claimed all your ‘victories’, outside and inside the battlefield,” he exclaimed as he looked at the man without an emotion on his face.

“What are you speaking of?” Steel asked, glaring at Bruce with unshed tears.

“It is him who has given you a reputation of a monster if you must know.”

“But why?” Bruce could see Steel's world was being teared up apart.

“That, I do not know.”

“Then how do you know it was him?!?!?” Steel exclaimed, lifting himself and pushing Bruce against a three, with no real malice behind his actions. It was a broken man who stood in front of him, not a monster nor a killer, just a lost man looking for answers and the truth, something Bruce could connect and understand. “Lex wouldn’t do this to me,” he added in a whisper that Bruce only heard due to their proximity.

Ignoring the ‘Lex’ part, Bruce removed himself from Steel’s grasp and pushed him away.

“Do you honestly believe that?”

“No,” the man answered, looking ashamed of himself as he looked at his hands.

Knowing he wouldn’t endure another one of Steel’s meltdowns, he caught his shoulder and spun him around, making the man face him. Up close, Bruce could see that his eyes were a powerful shed of blue, with only a speck of brown in the left eye. They were so blue, Bruce almost lost himself looking into them… They were so much like… 

Bruce stopped the thought before it could form. It wasn’t the time to think of  _ him _ , as he was dead, and he would stay that way thanks to Luthor, a man who had hurt another soul once more.

“I can show you the truth, but only if you accept to fight for my cause.”

…

Clark knew he couldn’t really trust the man that was guiding him through the woods, but at the same time, as he had looked into those brown eyes that held so much power and knowledge, hurt and promise of passion, he also knew that he would follow this man to the very ends of Hell if they promised the truth to all of his questions.

Those eyes were so much like  _ his _ .

He felt drawn to Knight by an inexplicable force, much like he had felt all those years ago with Thomas but… could he really feel like that for anyone at all after what had happened to him? Thomas was a man unlike any other, one of a kind, a lost man like him, trying to find his way in this messy, unbound world. 

He had died long before he got the chance to do so.

He wanted to ask Knight more questions about Luthor, about this war he had never understood, but before that could happen, they reached a little cabin in the middle of the woods, where a man stood in the front door with a smirk on his face. The man was tall and well built, with a green mask covering his eyes and brown messy hair covering his head.

He was handsome and looked at Knight like a starving man, which unnerved Clark to no end.

“Hey, Knight” the man said in a joyful tone, clearly mocking Knight.

“Lantern.”

“Who’s the eye candy?” the man asked as he tilted his face towards Clark, channelling his charisma towards him, making  Clark think of Thomas and his mischievous smile.

“You know him as The Man of Steel,” Knight said, which immediately swept away the smile from Lantern's face. His posture changed as well, going from relaxed to tense in just the blink of an eye and all the sympathy from before had been replaced by coldness.

“What is he doing here?” Lantern asked in a harsh tone.

Instead of answering, the Knight only glared at the man and, after a few moments of silent communication, during which Clark felt a little left out and, dare say, jealous, Lanter gave a sigh and relaxed his posture, making them a way to come in. Once they were all inside, Lantern closed the door behind him.

Inside the cabin there was a lot of movement, more than Clark would expect from such a tiny space, but what surprised him the most was that there, in the middle of the room, stood mighty and powerful the King of Atlantis, next to Princess Diana, heir of the Amazonian throne, looking breathtakingly strong and ready for battle.

The Atlantean was the first to notice him, a scowl on his face the minute he recognised the man responsible for the deaths of so many of his people, freezing Clark in his place. The Amazonian, instead, zeroed her attention immediately into the man beside Clark, her expression turning into one of pure bliss, almost dazzling him.

“Knight!” the woman exclaimed as she strode solemnly towards the Knight, who in return turned to face her with the same stoic expression he had since Clark approached him hours ago. However, and that was only something Clark noticed due to the intense amount of attention he was giving the man, Knight smirked only the slightest at the woman, in a way that could be called friendly.

And for the umpth time in their short relationship, Clark was jealous of such a sight.

“Princess”.

“We weren’t expecting you, otherwise…” she said while looking around, smiling fondly at the chaos that engulfed them.

“It’s of no matter,” Knight said, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I was just bringing Steel so he could know more about us”.

“Steel?” she said, the first frown appearing on her face, making her no less beautiful. “As in “The Man of Steel”? Why would he need to know about us?”

Clark could tell that the Amazonian Princess was displeased with his presence, but knowing that Knight had risked his alliance to this people for his belief in Clark made him believe there was a way to mend the error of his ways.

“I think King Luthor has lied to me long enough,” Clark spoke for the first time, silencing the entire room. He could feel every pair of eyes on him, and while in ancient times that would’ve distraught him, at the moment it only made him bolder.

He needed to prove he was not the monster everyone thought him to be.

“Yeah?” Lantern intercepted from his post at the door, “don’t you think is a little too late?”

“I…”

“What about all those innocents you’ve killed?” a young blond man said from his post, in the far end of the cabin, training alongside another man, also blond but with a goatee. A man who looked suspiciously like King Oliver from StarKingdom. They had stopped their quarrelling when Clark began speaking.

“I... ” he replied, not knowing what to say. Only a few hours ago had he learn of the true nature of his reputation and while it unnerved him and drove him to prove them wrong, he could not atest at his innocence. Knight had trusted him out of the willingness of his heart but outside of his compassion, he knew he needed solid evidence to prove his innocence in the face of their claims. 

Maybe helping them end the war with Luthor would convince them of such… right?

In the wake of his silence, Clark failed to notice when everyone began talking, yelling at him about his mistakes, his trust and loyalty towards Luthor, the terror he had inflicted upon so many people, the pain he had caused, overwhelming him, to say the least. 

“Knight…” Princess Diana said, seeing all the commotion the other man had brought to their base.

“I believe him when he says he’s been lied to, Diana” the man in question said, silencing the room at once, “And I believe is time for him to know the man Luthor truly is.”


	5. Though nothing

Bruce knew better than to expect a warm welcome for Steel at the base with the other leaders and their trustworthy knights, but seeing all the hate, resentment and distrust he was welcomed with, made him question whether or not the others could accept him once the man in question decided to join them and fight against Luthor.

Yes, Bruce hadn’t lied when he said that he believed Steel when he said he thought Luthor was lying to him. In the little time they had shared, Bruce could see in the other knight a man that was capable of so much good, a little misguided and gullible, but a good man nonetheless.

He noticed the man’s guilty face when Bruce tensed at the mention of Nightwing, almost like he felt bad for making him think that was meant as a threat towards his son. Bruce was rarely wrong at reading people, and he could see that Steel was one of those who used his heart on his sleeve. 

How he ended up with a man such as Lex Luthor was beyond his understanding.

He reminded him so much of Joseph that it was borderline painful to be near him. It was because of his memory of him that Bruce was willing to lend a hand towards the man in question, even if it meant as a way for the others question his sanity or even his leadership.

“How dare you bring that man to our base, Knight?” Arthur, the Atlantean King asked him as soon as they all gathered in the meeting’s room, away from Steel and the low-level warriors.

“He must have a reason, Arthur, tone it down,” Diana intervened, trying to calm down the men in the room.

“He killed 3,000 of my men.” 

“And you’ve killed men from his Kingdom too, in this senseless war,” Bruce interrupted him, glaring every member in the room, “we all have blood on our hands, but with  **his** help, there’s a possibility we can end the war once and for all.” He had seen his abilities, knew what he was capable of.

“And how do you know Luthor didn’t send him here to learn more about us and find a way to defeat us?” Oliver asked, talking for the first time since Steel entered the room. He was the King of Star Kingdom, beloved by his people and known to be a fair ruler. His involvement in the war was similar to Bruce’s, fighting with other armies in his Knight persona, the Arrow, to keep his people as far away from the war as possible. But, unlike Bruce, he was a sociable and outgoing being, known to have formed an alliance with the Atlanteans and Amazonians. 

Bruce had never made such a claim.

However, as if on queue, there was a loud clatter in the kitchen and when Bruce opened the door it was to the sight of Steel with all the pans on the floor around him, looking sheepish and embarrassed. Bruce only irked an eyebrow beneath his mask, but it was enough for Steel to look more ashamed as if he knew the expression he was wearing.

His handsome features looked embarrassed and sheepish, bright red at being caught while everyone threw daggers at him. But it was when he opened his mouth that Bruce knew he was entering a dangerous territory with Steel.

“There was a kitten outside, and I was trying to heat up some milk for them…” 

Bruce said nothing, just crossed his arms.

“But I couldn’t find anything to heat the milk, and next thing I know everything just fell and I…” Steel turned to look at Bruce and, sensing the man was already anxious, Bruce eased his posture to show Steel he wasn’t going to die, which made a blissful smile appear on his face.

“I’ll fix this, don’t worry about it, Knight,” he said before the turned around and started gathering all the pieces of metal on the floor.

“ **He?** He is going to end the war once and for all?” Jordan asked from inside the room, appearing suddenly unsure that the man in front of them was the legendary, merciless knight known as The Man of Steel.

Instead of answering, Bruce gave a little smile towards Steel, that went unnoticed by the man it was directed to but noticed by his friend. He closed the door as he turned around to see his brothers in arms looking at him in various expressions of disbelief. Yet he knew that as naive as Steel was he was a powerful man as well, capable of great things. 

While everyone was looking at him like he had turned into a Quimera or a Dragon, only Jordan was looking at him wearing a knowing smirk, much to his annoyance and displeasure. He had never been able to hide anything from him.

“He is not what we’ve been lead to believe,” Bruce addressed to the room, regaining his stoic demeanour.

“He’s the most powerful man in all the Kingdoms known about,” Arthur said, frowning.

“And that’s exactly why we need him.”

“But Bruce… what about all those stories about him?” Diana asked with a kind tone, soothing his towering anger. “There must exist for a reason.”

“Like the ones about me?” He asked as he looked at everyone in the room in their eyes.

Every person in the room knew the truth, so they helped create the rumours that surrounded the mysterious Knight persona, making him a thing of nightmares.

“Who was actually met Steel before today?” Bruce asked with a calm and peaceful tone, unlike how he felt inside, “who has actually seen one of his atrocious act in person, not learn about them from hear-say?”

“Those who have not been able to return, Bruce,” Jordan said, approaching him. “He has killed them all.”

“Has he?” Is all Bruce asked before sitting down once again at the round table, “Where’s the proof on that?”

“The bodies he’s left in every battlefield?” Barry asked in disbelief. He was Oliver’s most trusted knight, and an expert at recognising what the death marks really meant, how a person was killed.

“How do we know Luthor didn’t set him up?” Bruce asked in return, making Oliver exchange a glance with Barry that did not go unnoticed by Jordan, and Bruce in return.

“Gotham’s water has been tampered with,” Bruce said as he sat down and removed his mask. It was getting obnoxious to wear it, and now among his friends, he was able to take it off. He trusted Steel about being innocent, but his identity was something he didn’t take lightly, even if the behaviour with Helena said otherwise. 

He really hoped Steel hadn’t seen a thing.

“What happened?” Diana asked as she sat next to him, taking his hand between hers.

Bruce knew he shouldn’t encourage Diana’s affections, as he did not feel the same way about her, but at the same time, she was one of his most trusted and beloved friends, and an alliance with Themyscira would never hurt any Kingdom whatsoever, especially in the vicious war they faced.

He just hoped Steel would join them to stop the war and their subsequent union from ever happening.

“I was taking Steel here when we encountered young Helena Kyle trapped below a tree trunk,” he said, removing his hand from hers in a delicate matter. “She was there as there was no water in the Kingdom.”

“Poor girl,” Diana exclaimed, horrified as she knew that Bruce thought very fondly of Helena and her mother. She was very close to Damian, Bruce’s youngest son. “Is she safe and sound with her mother?” 

“Yes, Selina was worried about her whereabouts as well,” Bruce replied, leaning in his chair.

“How did they messed with the water?” Jordan asked, removing his mask as well as he sat next to Bruce, on the opposite side of Diana. “We protect it better than anyone.”

“Is what I want to investigate?” Bruce said, looking at his most trusted knight and best friend. “And I want to take Steel with me.”

“But, Bruce” Jordan began protesting before being interrupted by the man himself.

“I need you in Gotham in case I’m wrong and this is a trap from Luthor,” he explained, resting a hand in Hal’s shoulder. “There’s no one I trust more than you.”

“Yeah, right,” Hal said, dismissive, but with a smile, indicating he was joking. “And what about Dick?”

“Someone needs to babysit you.” 

“Careful, Knight, your softness is showing.”

“As endearing as this exchange is,” Arthur said, interrupting the banter between friends, “we cannot risk Knight only to prove Steel is not going to kill him. He’s too valuable for that.”

“Arthur, if you wanted him for yourself, you only had to ask,” Hal said in a teasing tone, “my heart is already taken as it is,” he finished with a wink towards Barry, who blushed scarlet red much to Oliver’s amusement.

“Lantern,” Arthur began saying before being interrupted by Bruce.

“He’s had plenty of opportunities to kill me or apprehend me, yet he hasn’t,” he said, looking at every individual at the table directly into the eyes. “I believe him.”

“Then I believe him as well,” Diana said from her post, ignoring the glares Arthur sent her way. “However, if we don’t hear from you in two days notice, we will track him down and end him once and for all.”

“But how?” Hal asked in disbelief, “he’s the most powerful being alive, invulnerable to every sword.”

“There’s nothing known in any Kingdom on this land capable of even scratching him,” Barry said, approaching them cautiously. “We would know if such a thing existed.”

“It would have ended the war ages ago,” Oliver said, looking in awe.

Bruce had his theories, but if he was from the same place as Joseph was, there was only one way to end him once and for all, but it was painful and slow, and no man, no matter the horrors he had done, deserved to die in such an undignified manner. 

He hoped he was wrong about Steel’s origin.

“I have my ways,” she said mysteriously before kissing Bruce on the cheek and standing up. She nodded to her most trusted warrior, Antiope, and together exited the room without looking back.

She only stopped once, to look at Bruce and dedicate him her most beautiful, blinding smile. Her ebony hair rained over her shoulders, creating a halo around her chiselled face, her plump lips red as the most delicious apple and her eyes promising danger and pain.

Bruce had never been more scared of her before in his life.

…

Clark noticed that, as Knight said goodbye to his fellow warriors, there was tension in the air, almost like it could choke him if he wasn’t careful enough. The worried glances Lantern and the two blondes sent his way didn’t go unnoticed by him, as discreet as they were trying to be.

But it was Knight’s demeanour what worried him the most.

To most people, there wouldn’t have been any noticeable change in the man, but as Clark had been noticing him since the night before, he could notice the tension in his shoulders, hands, and the thin line that now was his plump mouth.

He noticed that Knight’s mouth was his most telling tale, as well as his eyes. His face could betray nothing, but just a glimpse into his eyes and a small movement from his mouth told Clark everything he needed to know. Which is how he knew Knight was amused with the whole kitten milk fiasco from before, even if his posture was rigid and demanding.

Clark wondered, not for the first time, what it would feel like to have directed those eyes with a friendly, or not so friendly, gaze and a small smile gracing his lips. He wondered if Knight ever truly relaxed. And if so, if he would do that with him.

In some ways, Knight reminded him of Thomas, stoic yet compassionate, seemingly cold but with a heart of gold. A walking contradiction, like Pa, used to say whenever Clark talked about him and the time they had shared together all those years ago.

If only Pa could see Knight right now, oh the things he would say.

As they departed from the cabin, Clark couldn’t help but notice a shadow in the faraway tree, an Amazonian warrior who was looking at him with a predatory glare, showing all her teeth and sword in her belt. Her ebony skin glowed underneath the sunlight and her perfect black hair reflected perfectly an aura of danger. Clark felt as if cold water was being thrown in his back, freezing him for a moment.

“Everything okay?” Knight asked in his smooth, silky, deep voice, which earned Clark another glare from the Amazonian, a glare that didn’t go unnoticed by the other man.

“Let’s go,” he said, grabbing Clark’s elbow and guiding him towards the woods Clark now liked to think of as theirs.

For a while neither man said a thing, both of them content with basking in the sounds of the forest, enjoying each other company. With Luthor, Clark rarely got those moments of silence he treasured so much that reminded him of home, where he could just think and reflect regarding his life. 

Luthor liked to use every peaceful moment they had to strategise, to know more about Clark’s abilities, about the power he could withhold, and not for the first time made him wonder how he had not seen that his King treated him more as a weapon than as a person. 

Knight and Thomas had never treated him as such.

He wondered what his life would’ve been if Thomas hadn’t died, if Luthor hadn’t come that fateful night telling him the news about a man similar to Thomas description that had died in the brinks of the war, victim of the crossfire between the Metropolis Knights and the Atlanteans’, claiming his death was a result of the Atlanteans thirst for power and domination over everyone. Thomas, always with compassion not worthy of those around him, fighting for the right cause, had died protecting a couple of young kids from being eliminated by the merciless warriors from Atlantis.

Clark was not proud to say that was the reason he killed so many of them during battles, yearning for a closure that would never come. 

Luthor said they never found the body, and Clark never questioned it, even if now he thought he should’ve, at least to be able to say goodbye to the only man he’d ever loved.

“Can I ask you something?” Clark asked, breaking the calm of the forest.

“What?” Behind Knight’s question, there was no malice or bitterness, just plain stoicism.

He didn’t know how to phrase his question, as “ _ have you heard if they ever found what happened to Thomas Kane after the battle between Metropolis and Atlantis ten years ago? You see, he’s the love of my life and I’ve never been able to forget him. Actually, is his death that convinced me to join Luthor’s side in the first place,”  _ did not sound like something one would say to another man who was trying to befriend them and help them understand the truth behind the lies.

But then… what was the right approach?

“Where are we going?” Clark asked instead, scared of making Knight run away to the hills, with second-hand embarrassment after Clark’s statement of a senseless vengeance.

He was positive Knight was not one for sensibilities.

“Investigate.”

“What?”

However, before Knight could answer, the man stopped dead in his tracks, watching in horror the scene that deflected right before his eyes. Clark was about to ask what was going on when he noticed a sight that brought cold to the inside of his soul.

It was a bloodbath in the purest sense of the word.

Bodies over bodies were pulled in the middle of the road, most of them tore apart by animals but every single one of them showing clear signs of having faced death from a sword. The smell of blood, sweat and death was everywhere, overwhelming Clark to no end.

He turned to look at Knight whose face no longer held any trace of mirth. There was only barely contained anger and a guarded faced that was most likely to break at any given point.

“What’s happening to the wells in Gotham,” Knight uttered, making his hands into fists as he took sight of everything around them.

Clark could barely contain his desire to throw up.

“You mean to tell me Helena’s not the first to wander through the woods looking for water?” he said as he grabbed the man to turn him around and face him. 

He would be lying if he said those brown eyes didn’t make his knees weak, even when tainted with anger and pain. He wished to erase the man’s distress, but unable to come with a form as to how.

“She’s one of the few to have returned alive,” Knight replied in return, releasing himself from Clark’s grasp and walking away.

“How is that possible?” Clark asked as he tried to catch up with the other man, who was walking as fast as he could, trying to dodge the bodies, “I thought you protected this woods!”

“Don’t you think I tried?!?!” Knight asked in disbelief as he spread his arms, almost as if showing the bloodbath that was currently underneath them. “This people, my people, are dead because of Luthor, the man YOU decided to serve and kill for.”

“You can’t know that is him!”

“Look around you! See all this death!” Knight exclaimed, finally losing the control he so carefully had held until that moment, “This is the kind of thing you’re known for! This blood is on you as far as everyone knows!”

“I… Look, I’m…” Clark began to say before being interrupted by Knight.

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry! Don’t you dare!” Knight yelled, throwing his mask away as tears began clouding his eyes. He turned away before Clark could see his face, “You have no idea what this war has cost me, what I’ve lost to Luthor, so shut up.”

“This war has cost me things too,” Clark whispered as he did not expect such an emotional outburst from the man.

“Oh, really?” Knight asked in a cruel voice, with his back still facing Clark, “has Luthor stopped fucking you, too busy with planning what next village to attack?”

“I have no such relationship with my King,” Clark stated, appealed that Knight could think such a thing and hoping to convince the man of the contrary.

He never cared about those rumours before, but suddenly it was his most important task to dismiss such a thing. Luthor had been there for him when Clark had been at his worst after the death of his love, understanding his grief and convincing him to fight in Thomas’ honour for the right cause.

“You call him Lex,” Knight said bitterly, almost at the brink of laughing hysterically.

“I...”

“You fight on his honour!” Knight yelled towards the forest, still not facing Clark, “You fight for the honour of the man that killed the love of my life in a petty vengeance, who started a war among Kingdoms just because I didn’t give him what wasn’t mine to give.”

“I…”

“He’s the man responsible for the death of my people, and in return, you are as well.”

“What are you talking about?” Clark yelled, desperate as it seemed that Knight was losing it.

Finally, Knight turned, and as he did, the sight paralyzed Clark and made him believe in a God he thought had abandoned him a long time ago. 

It just wasn’t possible.

“I blame you for the death of Joseph Clark, Steel,” Thomas Kane said as he looked at Clark with such hate and contempt that Clark couldn’t have stop the whimper that escaped his lips even if he tried.  
  



	6. Could Keep Us Together

When Bruce had seen the bloodbath, the memories of that fateful night when Joseph had died alongside his parents started flooding his mind, filling him with panic and dread, worried about his children, Alfred, his people, his friends. The smell was the same as well the air, twirling his insides with disgust. Bruce could only keep it for so long before breaking into uncontrollable sobs, no matter if he wasn’t alone.

It certainly didn’t help when Steel started playing innocent, claiming the innocence of his King, dumb to the sight that was unfolding right beneath their eyes, making him think of Joseph even harder, as he could never see a fault in anyone, even if it had cost him everything.

He thought the woods were safe, he thought he had them under control, even with the war unfolding. That at least that part of his Kingdom was secure from Luthor’s attack. 

As the sobs became uncontrollable, the memory of Luthor’s words when Bruce had found Joseph in the brink of death alongside the Kents' corpses kept playing on his mind. “ _ If I can’t have him, Bruce, no one will,”  _ was all he said before stabbing Joseph right through his heart. 

Bruce was still mourning his lover when the war began.

He could feel Steel’s eyes boring into him, making him want to scream. He was Luthor’s ally, knight, bed warmer, lover, friend. And he had lost everything to that man.

“I blame you for the death of Joseph Clark, Steel,” he said as he turned around to face the man, not noticing the sheer and pure panic that reflected those eyes. 

He remembered when he first heard of Steel, and how he had hated him, remembering him so much of Joseph at the same time as he did not, as the man he had known and loved would never ally with such a despiteful being like Lex Luthor. 

Joseph was the humble son of a farmer, born on a faraway land that had granted him abilities far beyond anyone’s imagination, making him hide them in return, as the fear of being used for the wrong thing was greater than any other threat.

He had guessed Steel wasn’t of that same belief.

But it was when meeting him and treating him outside the battlefield that something started inside Bruce that he would very much like to bury, even if just to avoid any pain similar to what had felt like to lose Joseph. He was a light in Bruce’s darkness, a light that shone so bright it was only bound to live for so little.

Blatantly, Bruce ignored Steel’s whimper. If he so wished to ignore Luthor’s lack of mercy towards his people, his love, why must Bruce show any sort of compassion for his lover, his weapon? 

He needed vengeance.

“What?” Steel asked in a murmur.

“You’ve been distracting me with your pathetic tale of wanting to learn the truth,” he murmured viciously as he approached the man, who was currently on his knees, looking up at Bruce like he was a cursed vision. “I could’ve protected my people, but no, I had to guide a murderer to ‘understand’ the realities of the war.”

“That’s not what happened!”

“Then tell me how this happened and how is this not your King’s fault!” he demanded in outrage.

“I don’t know how this happened but you have to listen to me, Thomas!” Steel yelled, seemingly desperate.

Bruce lost it as Joseph was the only one who called him that. 

He needed to stop the pain.

“How dare you!?!?” Bruce yelled in return, punching Steel right in the face. “How dare you call me that when you have no idea what you’re talking about?” 

“Thomas!” Steel yelled from the path where he had landed after Bruce’s punch.

“Shut up” Bruce screamed, as he climbed Steel’s lap and began punching him without mercy, “Stop… saying… that… name...” he yelled between punches.

He needed blood.

“Thomas, please, listen to me,” Steel begged, not making any sort of move to stop him, letting Bruce punch him at his heart’s desire. No traces of pain were in his face, as well as a lack of bruises or blood to show Bruce was actually doing any harm whatsoever.

“Stop talking to me like you know me!” Bruce said, grabbing Steel by his suit and putting his face millimetres apart from the man. “I lost the love of my life because of you!”

“Thomas…”

“Stop saying that name!” Bruce yelled as he let go of the man, “How do you know that name? Who’s your spy?”

“We met ten years ago on the skirts of Krypton when you saved me from my impending death. Remember that night at the campfire, with the stars?” Steel asked calmly as if he was trying to hold Bruce’s soul like it meant something.

Vaguely, Bruce remembered Joseph holding his hand, finding comfort in each other in the coldness of the night as they looked at each other waiting for sleep to come to them.

He remembered the night he realised he was in love with him.

“No, you are lying! You’re Luthor’s play toy!” Bruce yelled as he pushed Steel away from him and began pacing around him, “You serve and love your King.”

“That rumour has never been true,” Steel said as he approached him carefully like any sudden movement would make him bolt. “Neither my heart nor my body have ever belonged to King Luthor.”

Bruce hated the sincerity of his words. 

He needed to hate him.

“I only joined Luthor’s crusade after the death of my lover at the hands of the Atlantean Army, who sought to invade Metropolis for their sake.”

Bruce remembered that battle, how Luthor had ambushed Arthur and murdered his wife Mera on a whim. Bruce remembered holding Arthur as he grieved, thinking of Joseph in his home and thanking the Gods he was safe. He remembered going with Arthur as Knight and how Luthor had slaughtered Arthur’s guard in a maniac move.

He remembered Arthur’s retaliation.

He remembered meeting Timothy and Cassandra that same day, protecting them in the middle of that chaos, orphaned once the bloodbath revealed the corpses of their parents.

He remembered seeing Joseph’s corpse no long after that.

“But my heart, my body, my soul have only belonged to one man, ever since...”

“Poor bastard,” Bruce interrupted him, memories suffocating him. 

He needed to breathe.

“Thomas, please, listen to me.”

“Stop saying that name!” he yelled before collapsing to the floor.

He needed Joseph.

...

Seeing the man he loved on the brink of despair was tugging on Clark’s heartstrings like they hadn’t been capable of feeling for a long time. Thomas was alive, and he was there, with him, despite all odds. 

Even though it had been years since they last saw each other, Thomas was as breathtaking as he was the night they met, almost 10 years to the date. He looked older, with more wrinkles in his eyes that Clark hoped were due to laughter instead of pain, muscles more defined than the 20-year-old something he had met. He wondered how he ended up in King’s Bruce army as his most trusted knight, as he knew Thomas was appealed by royalty and all the pretences it encompassed. However, he had always wanted to do the right thing, and if he was fighting against Luthor well… Clark realised he was definitely fighting for the wrong side.

Clark had never tried to forget him as he knew he never could. Men like Thomas Kane only existed every once in a while.

“Thomas, please, listen to me.”

“Stop saying that name!”

“It’s me!” Clark yelled, desperate to make Thomas understand, “I’m your Joseph!”

Thomas stopped pacing and slowly began turning towards him, with a pained expression on his cold dead eyes. Clark had never thought of him as beautiful and terrifying as he did at that moment.

“Don’t you dare utter that precious name on your corrupted lips,” Thomas snarled with hatred, making Clark’s heart twist and shout in pain. “You are nothing compared to him.”

“I am him!” Clark screamed in desolation, “you must trust my word, Thomas.” 

“I can’t,” Thomas said with a broken voice in a whisper, avoiding Clark’s eyes.

“Why not?” Clark asked carefully, approaching his love once more.

“Because I saw Luthor murdering Joseph right in front of my eyes!” Thomas yelled with tears in his eyes, “Because I held him as he gave his last breath! Because I loved him and I couldn’t save him!”

Clark’s heart sang at the confirmation of Thomas’ love for him, as they had never shared such intimate thoughts in the time they spent together, but cold realization dawn on him when Thomas’ words echoed in his thoughts.

“Trying to recreate my powers, Luthor created a clone of me a few years back,” Clark said in a whisper as his mind remembered Luthor explaining to him the alchemy and magic behind the clone, the dark and twisted magic that made such a creature possible.

He remembered being glad when Luthor told him the creature had died, not able to withstand the powers it contained.

He wondered when Luthor’s lies had truly began.

“What?”

“Luthor recurred to the dark arts to create a clone of me, saying that if I didn’t want to fight the war, at least he’d get someone powerful enough to protect his people. I was against using my powers back then, so I agreed to give Luthor some hairs so he could do what he had to do…” Clark said, lost in thought as he kneeled in the grown. “He told me later that the clone had died because I was too powerful and my powers were too much for him.”

“He stabbed Joseph right through the heart, but he did look weaker than last time I saw him,” Thomas said as he sat down on the ground as well. “I always thought it was because Luthor had held him captive before murdering him.”

“I met him not long after you and I took our separate ways,” Clark said with a fond smile as he remembered the kiss they had shared before the promise of a reunion, “I was on my way home when I found him lying on the side of the road outside the Arkham Kingdom. I remember thinking I should help him, as he was weak and wounded.”

“I used my abilities to get him home and, in the process, he learnt of my true heritage. He vowed to never say a thing and I… I trusted him.”

From the corner of his eye, Clark could feel Thomas’ undivided attention on him and, shivering from the feelings the man awoke in him, he kept retelling his story.

“Ma and Pa weren’t so trusting of him, but I dismissed their concerns because Luthor was my friend…” Clark makes a face at his naivety, “and that wasn’t my main concern as they began falling sick and nothing could cure them.” His voice breaks at the memory of his parents lying weak and sick on their bed, dying but happy to be together until the end.

“Do… do you…. do you think he…” Clark began asking, sobbing as an awful thought crossed his mind, “do you think he murdered Ma and Pa, Thomas?” 

Thomas said nothing, but Clark felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, and that… that was enough. He knew what Joseph meant. He was starting to believe him.

Holding onto that thought, he continued.

“When they died I wanted nothing more than to leave everything behind and find you again. Luthor had left a few weeks earlier to gather his army as he had learnt the Atlanteans had invaded Metropolis. But when everything was ready for me to go, Luthor came to see me and told me the love of my life, Thomas Kane, had been murdered in the battle trying to protect two orphan kids from an unspeakable fate.”

Unable to stop, Clark started sobbing.

“It was such a you thing to do I didn’t even doubt that it might not be true. It never crossed my mind that Luthor was lying to me and you might have been alive. I grieved you and my parents and when Luthor convinced me to join his army, I didn’t even question it, I joined and fought for him as I had nothing left for me… I…” 

Tears streamed down Clark’s face and his sobbing became an uncontrollable mess.

“I’m sorry, Thomas,” Clark begged, “I’m sorry. If I had known I… I…”

“It’s okay, Joseph,” Thomas said in a tender whisper as he gathered Clark in his arms, “It’s okay.”


	7. We could steal time

Even if Bruce had doubted of Steel’s, _Joseph’s,_ intentions in the past, hearing him break down at the realisation of his parents murder or the conniving plot Luthor had orchestrated around him to keep him close, Bruce knew that was the man he had fallen in love with all those years ago and the man that had never truly left him in the first place.

Joseph was always with him.

It felt strange to have in his arms the love he had mourn for so long, and while part of him was delighted to have Joseph back, part of him dreaded in the thought of so much between them to actually keep them together. Years of pain, misery, anger, war and loss hang above them, weighing Bruce down and trying to suffocate him.

Luthor was the man responsible for it all and he needed to pay.

“It’s Clark,” Joseph said in between sobs, taking Bruce out of his thoughts, “Joseph is my middle name.”

Bruce smiled with fondness, as he had done the same thing.

“Thomas is mine,” he told the man in his arms, whispering tightly as if afraid to let him go, which he was, “People actually call me Bruce.”

At that, Joseph’s, _Clark’s_ , sobs stopped and the man looked up to him in disbelief, with his bright blue eyes shining due to the shed tears.

“As in… King Bruce Wayne of Gotham?”

So he had caught that. Joseph had always been a smart guy, not easy to fool when he knew the clues in front of him.

“Yes, and I’m sorry for deceiving you, my love, but I was…” it felt good to calm him _my love_ again which based on Joseph’s, _Clark’s,_ face, he felt the same.

“I understand, my soul.” Clark interrupted him with a soft look in his eyes, “you told me monarchy wasn’t for you, that you despised all the falsehood it encompassed. I just never realised you were talking about yourself and your situation.”

He had missed Clark calling him _my soul_ and how well they understood each other.

“I actually thought you had joined King’s Bruce army to fight for him. But I should’ve known you were one and the same, as you were never one to let others fight for you, no matter what.”

“And I should’ve known you were still alive,” Bruce whispered in his hair as he held him tighter in his arms. “I should’ve looked for any indications that that man wasn’t you.”

“There’s no point in dwelling in the past, my soul,” Clark said as he sat down across Bruce and held his face in his hands, “we are together now and united, we can defeat Luthor and his reign of terror.”

“You still want to…”

“I don’t need to know how much more he’s lied to me,” Clark whispered in a passionate voice, sending his warm breath towards Bruce’s face, making him shiver despite the warm temperature around them, “He led me to believe your demise, he murdered my parents… He started a war because he was desperate for power.”

Clark positioned his face closer to Bruce’s, making his brain lost all coherent thought in return.

“He needs to pay for what he’s done,” he said as he joined their lips in a much desperate and needed reunion.

Bruce had never forgot what it was like to kiss Joseph, but even his wildest memories paled in comparison to the kiss they were sharing, as it was full with all the love, longing and pain they have both shared unknowingly for almost a decade. In one true, passionate kiss, they said everything they hadn’t said in all those years, all the _I love you_ s _, I treasure you_ s _, please never leave me again_. It was a kiss that lasted a lifetime and yet it wasn’t enough for them to say everything they needed to say.

Eventually, it had to end, if only because Bruce needed air much more than Clark did.

“Let’s end this war once and for all, my love,” is all Bruce said before sealing their lips in a kiss once more.

\----

It took longer than Bruce was willing to admit to return to his castle, but between gentle touches, soft smiles and a tender kiss here and there, every single one of them full of promises of a tomorrow… well, he felt young and hopeful again, capable of taking the world in his own hands with Clark by his side.

Sadly, nothing good lasts forever in times of war.

Gotham was quiet, much to quiet for Bruce’s liking, as even in their worst times, the city had some life in it, much in thanks to Jordan’s belief of keeping spirits up even in the darkest times.

He wondered where his best friend was as he looked at the deserted streets of the city, with not even a soul on them. He could feel his citizens inside the houses, fearful for their King and their fate and with a sickening realization, he knew there was something wrong.

He started running towards his home, with Clark at his toes.

But it was when they reached the castle that he knew exactly how wrong everything was, because there, sitting on the throne, was Luthor with Alfred’s head dangling from his fist. 

Blood, bile and vomit threatened to leave his body at the sight of his mentor’s decapitated head mixed with Luthor’s winning smirk, and even though every cell in his body begged him for retaliation and vengeance, he knew it was exactly what Luthor wanted.

Fighting back the tears that wanted to leave his eyes, Bruce squared up behind his mask and looked defiantly towards Luthor.

In the back of his head, he prayed to the Gods that his children were safe.

“How very nice of you to join us, Bruce,” Luthor said sardonically as he dandled Alfred’s head from side to side. “Yes, I know it’s you, you moron, so take off that stupid mask of your face.”

Reluctantly, and fearing for his children, Bruce did what Luthor asked.

“When Clark left me that note telling me was looking for the Amazonian’s weakness I knew he was up to something,” Luthor explained as he dropped Alfred’s head on the ground. “He never truly wanted to go after them.”

He felt Clark tense next to him.

“So, I had him followed and believe me when I tell you that I had never expected to learn he was visiting you,” the mad man explained with a forced laugh, “but what was most amazing is that you,” he said pointing at Bruce, “never even tried to fight him. You actually LISTENED to him!”

From where he was standing, Bruce could sense Luthor’s weak hold on his sanity.

“I told you once, Bruce, _If I can’t have him, no one will,”_ Luthor said maniacally, laughing around at seemingly nothing, “but you don’t seem to get it, do you?”

Luthor’s laugh was sending cold shivers down his bloodstream.

“Well, I think you’ll get it now,” he said as he snapped his fingers and from every door in the throne room came a Metropolis knight holding each and every single one of his children by the throat. 

They were all fighting, Dick, Jason, Tim, Cassandra, Stephanie, Duke, Damian, every single one of them struggling for air as Jordan was being dragged to be hanged. Bruce knew that no matter how hard they fought, everything was lost to them.

But it was when Luthor’s henchman began squeezing Dick’s neck that he, unwillingly and against everything, he stood for, screamed for dear life.

…

Clark’s happiness at being reunited with his soulmate was short-lived, killed the minute they entered Bruce’s castle and saw his family about to die. 

He recognised Nightwing, now sans his mask and his blue eyes much like Bruce’s, reflecting shear and pure panic in them, begging for someone to save his brothers and sisters from the same fate he was about to encounter as Luthor’s men began suffocating him.

But it was when Bruce screamed and jumped towards Luthor with a sword in hand that everything paused and saw for the first time the true man Lex Luthor really was.

He was a man capable of murdering children if it got him what he wanted, a man capable of poisoning innocent lives if it meant he got his desire. He was a man without morals, without honour.

He was the man about to murder the love of his life, right in front of his eyes.

Running with everything he had, he managed to save Jordan from being hanged, Nightwing from being choked to death and all of Bruce’s children from a tragic demise. However, he wasn’t fast enough to stop Luthor’s blade from piercing through Bruce’s body, right next to his heart.

“No!” is all Clark could say before running towards the man he loved, knocking every single guard that stood in his way. Not fast enough he found himself holding the shivering body of the man who meant everything to him.

He could not lose him just when he had found him again.

“With him gone, we can finally be together,” Luthor said in a tender voice as he cradled Clark’s head against his will.

“I would rather die than to be with you,” Clark said with his voice full of venom and disgust, “You are nothing compared to him,” he said, reciting Bruce’s words from hours before.

“If that’s what you want,” Luthor said before pulling his sword once more and stabbing Clark right in his shoulder, causing a throbbing pain to curse through his body. 

Shocked, he turned around to see Luthor holding a brilliant green sword, which made him feel weakened and sick. Too late did he realised Luthor had stabbed him with a kryptonite sword and was enjoying watching him die next to Bruce.

“I always win, Clark,” Luthor said in a gleeful voice, “and I always get what I want.”

“I love you,” a weak voice said next to him, making him turn around to see Bruce looking at him with nothing but devotion and love. “I’m glad I found you once more.”

“Bruce…” Clark said, equally weak, “don’t leave me.”

 _“_ I never will,” Bruce said before closing his eyes, making Clark cry in outrage.

Gathering every single ounce of courage and power he could, he pulled Luthor towards him and faced him not as an equal, but as the villain he truly was. 

“This is for Bruce Thomas Wayne Kane,” he said as he punctured through Luthor’s skull with the lasers that came through his eyes, immediately killing the man.

He ignored every scream of disbelief at what he had done, resting next to Bruce as he closed his eyes to join him once more and this time for eternity. Breathing slower at every second that passed, he turned to look at the love of his life with a soft smile on his lips.

 _I love you too, Bruce_. 

Everything went black.


	8. Just for one day (Epilogue)

“I never thought I’d see you like this, old man,” Jason said as he looked at his nervous father pacing around the room like a rookie before his first battle.

“Yeah,” Dick said from where he was standing as he looked at them with a mischievous smile, “one would say the fearless Batman knows no fear.”

Dick would never admit it, but seeing his father like a nervous wreck made him the happiest man alive, as he knew his father rarely let himself show emotion around people. They had always been an exception, him and Jason more than their younger brothers, but he knew it also represented the huge impact Clark had had on his life from the moment they reunited almost a year ago.

At first, he was wary of Clark, as one should do, remembering his past as Luthor’s knight and his seemingly guiltless face at the aftermath of having murdered his King. He didn’t trust the Kryptonian even one beat, as he didn’t know what his intentions were towards his father and he didn’t let anyone move him from Bruce’s side while he was convalescent in recovery. Alfred would’ve stopped him but…

No, even thinking about it hurt. And it wasn’t the time for tears, even if it was the day the head of the Wayne house, if not in paper but in heart, had always dreamt for his son.

Going back to Clark, no one had trusted him, only Hal taking his side when the leaders of the Kingdoms wanted his head after Luthor’s execution. At the time, Dick was on their side, but it was when Bruce woke up and Clark let himself mourn the man he used to be before Luthor’s death that Dick realised that Steel was the most human of them all.

He had been by their side ever since.

Seeing his father in love was something he hadn’t expect either, as much of a foreign thought that it was. He still grew uncomfortable every time Bruce and Clark shared even a single look, as it was full of such devotion and love he felt like he was intriguing in a private moment not meant for him.

He would never admit it out loud, but it was something he wished to experience someday, that kind of love that changes you and makes you better.

After his recovery, Bruce abandoned the Dark Knight mantle to become the Batman, revealing his identity to the world in the process while Clark left behind him the Man of Steel mantle, donning in return the Superman one. They fought side by side to protect their Kingdoms, as with no heir, the Metropolis kind had elected Clark as their rightful king. 

It was revealed, through a fierce woman named Lois Lane, that the Kingdom of Metropolis was as unhappy with their former King as everyone else in all the kingdoms, and after a much heated and necessary debate, Clark had been the rightful choice.

And, after the wedding, both Kingdoms will be united as one.

When asked about their new titles, both men would say nothing in return, only sharing a smile between them and a soft kiss full of promises for a better tomorrow. 

Dick and the rest of the Waynes had stopped asking after a while.

When the wedding march began, Dick took his position, walking towards Clark as the man had asked him to be his best man, much in part for his lack of friends. Dick had been thrilled, especially because after that Bruce had asked Jason to be his, stating he wanted nothing more than his second-oldest son to be by his side on one of his most important days. 

Jason would deny it, but Dick saw tears in his eyes as the question was asked.

Jordan, Bruce's best friend, had been tasked with officiating the wedding, wearing a huge smile on his face at being part of such momentous occasion.

As he stood next to Clark and saw Bruce walking towards them, Clark leaned towards Dick to get his attention.

“Are you worried?”

Before Dick could answer, Bruce arrived at the altar, taking Clark’s hands in his and looking deeply at the love of his life with pure adoration. It was at that moment that he realised that, as long as his father and Clark were all together, nothing could go wrong.

“Not in the slightest,” he replied to himself with a smile on his face as the grooms said their vows to each other.

All was well within the Kingdoms and would be, for as long as Clark and Bruce were together.

**Author's Note:**

> Please, check Crocincrocs and NettleThistle art [here](https://carry-on-my-wayward-artblog.tumblr.com/post/186469542419/httpsarchiveofourownorgworks19907887chapters4715) and [here](https://boomdeyadah.tumblr.com/post/186468661966/this-is-my-illustration-for-superbatbigbang-2019)
> 
> It's truly something beautiful.
> 
> If you liked their art, be sure to give them a follow on Tumblr. You won't regret it


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